Crofton High’s Kylie Corcoran continued a family legacy Saturday night when she scored the game-winning goal to lead the No. 4 Cardinals to the Class 3A field hockey state championship.

Corcoran’s goal on a cross that slipped inside the left post from high in the circle with four minutes and five seconds left gave the Cardinals a 2-1 victory over No. 5 River Hill at Stevenson University for their first state title in just the second year of the program.

Kylie’s mother Katie Corcoran, a Crofton assistant, coached South River to two state championships and during the first one, in 2005, she was pregnant with Kylie. Seven years later, they made a deal that if South River won again, Corcoran would stop coaching the Seahawks and start coaching Kylie. They’ve been together ever since.

“This is really special,” Kylie, a junior midfielder, said. “Me and my mom always talked about winning a state championship together and being here right now, winning, is just an amazing feeling.”

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Kyie’s goal, her 21st of the season, put the finishing touch on what was, for the most part, a defensive battle for the Cardinals (16-2 overall) in the season finale at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills.

River Hill, a state finalist last season too, pressured the Cardinals over and over on drives and dribbles into the circle and on 16 penalty corners. The Hawks’ top midfielders, Maryland-bound Maddie Vasilios and Stanford-bound Puja Nanjappa, moved the ball well and created many scoring chances.

The Hawks (16-3) took 14 shots, but Crofton’s superb sophomore goalie Ryleigh Osborne stopped 12 of them.

“She’s unbelievable,” Crofton coach Amy Skrickus said. “They had a lot of corners tonight, but with Ryleigh back there, I have full confidence. They had some strong shots on their corners, but she just saw the ball well. She doesn’t get too frazzled, kind of stays calm and I’m glad she’s on our team.”

After Maya Chan scored on a drive from the top of the circle on the Hawks’ first penalty corner, Osborne and defenders Bree Riggs, Lyla Poknis and Emma Beyer shut them down for the final 53:04 of the game. They held Vasilios, who went into the final with 49 goals, scoreless.

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“As an attack they had very, very, very good ball movement,” Osborne. “Every single one of their girls is very skilled. Maddie and Puja work together really well and I give credit to both of them. It was really important for our defense to stick together.”

River Hill coach Shelly Chamness, who guided the Hawks to their only championship in 2010, gave credit to Osborne and the defensive unit.

“We had 16 corners and we tried lots of different things and we couldn’t get past them. We had lots of shots on goal, lots of corners. Their defense is the hardest defense we’ve come up against for sure,” said River Hill coach Shelly Chamness.

The Cardinals ended a 14-game Hawks win streak that dated back to the middle of September. The Howard County champions’ only losses were to Class 4A champion No.1 Broadneck and to No. 6 Severna Park. Both of Crofton’s losses were to Broadneck.

After River Hill scored the first goal, the Cardinals needed less then five minutes to retaliate on a breakaway. Karryn Dean passed the ball from the right side to Mary Kate Parks on the near post and Parks slipped the ball between the post and River Hill goalie Jocelyn Baker.

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The Cardinals held off ten penalty corners before Corcoran saw her chance.

“I got the ball around the 40,” she said, “and I looked up and I saw that I could just dribble around a few people and I saw the opening. I just let it off my stick and it went in.”

In just its second varsity season, Crofton is state field hockey champions. The Cardinals won the Class 3A state crown with a victory over River Hill Saturday evening at Stevenson University's Mustang Stadium. (Derek)

The state title was only the second for Crofton, which opened in 2020, after unified bocce. A year ago, the Cardinals lost to eventual champion Arundel in the field hockey regional semifinal.

“As a team, it was always our motivation this whole year,” said Osborne of the drive for a state championship. “We’d be conditioning and I’d be like, ‘Just imagine that ring on your finger. Just imagine that ring on your finger when we win state championships,’ so it really means a lot to us.”

CLASS 3A STATE FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

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at Stevenson University

NO. 5 CROFTON 2, NO. 4 RIVER HILL 1

Crofton 1 0 0 01— 2

River Hill 1 0 0 0 — 1

GOALS: Crofton — Mary Kate Parks, Kylie Corcoran; River Hill — Maya Chan

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ASSISTS: Crofton — Karryn Dean

SAVES: Crofton — Ryleigh Osborne 12; River Hill —Jocelyn Baker 1

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